Clutch received the FOIA Request from Portage Public Safety, and it is truly something else.
On August 27, 2020, Michael Carroll, then serving as Deputy City Manager and Chief Legal Officer for Portage, Michigan, was stopped by police after he nearly collided head‑on with a marked patrol car, exhibiting glazed eyes, slurred speech, and claiming he’d had four beers in the previous hour.
However, his blood draw finds that this was not at all accurate.
- Carroll refused field sobriety tests. Anyone who refuses a breath test the first time is given an automatic one-year driver’s license suspension.
- A blood draw warrant was obtained and executed, into which Carroll cooperated, resulting in a BAC of .221, much higher than the 0.17 reported by WWMT.
- This should have been subject to enhanced penalties, to include a $700 fine, up to 180 days in jail, a 1-year-license suspension, a mandatory treatment program, and an ignition interlock.
- During the stop, Carroll flashed his City of Portage employee badge, an apparent effort to leverage his official status, a clear misuse of authority.
- The total labor costs for Portage Department of Public Safety came to $825.24
In similar instances where Attorneys self-reported their convictions, they received short suspensions, explaining why Carroll would want to hide and downplay the conviction.
What is less explainable, is why the Prosecutor and the Defense Attorney did not report it, despite their clear requirements to do so.
In Short
Michael Carroll’s case is more than a DUI; it’s a story about how access and affiliation can insulate individuals from accountability.
A person with substantial legal and political connections received minimal consequences; no public discipline, no grievance filings, and no lasting professional harm, despite behavior that would otherwise prompt far harsher treatment.
